190: Siichaq - Cannibal

Siichaq's CATCHER is a lofi gem

The new album from Siichaq, the project of Atlanta-based songwriter Kennie Mason, launched itself with a simple motif: Life's A Mess. That first single – from the CATCHER LP, which is released today – did indeed carry a gloomy sense of greyness in its bones, but there were shimmers of light too, glimpses of something on the horizon, how ever far away they might seem.

That battle, stuck in the dark, seeking something brighter, plays out across CATCHER, and the result is something meandering and dream-like, in the very sense of that word. It exists in half-sleep, pitched somewhere between the stark reality of the everyday – in all of its messiness, indecision – and the hazy scattered images that fold in on themselves through the night, offering a form of escape from it all.

Weaving together elements of lofi indie rock and occasional splashes of psych-ish nosy textures – the press release cites Maria Somerville and feeble little horse as key comparisons, as well as The Microphones – what holds the whole thing together is Mason's voice, the sluggish nature of its delivery shaped into a tangible character, a central figure that we watch wandering throughout, always compelling, roughly organic.

It's mid-point, the swirling 'Cannibal', is suitably placed, acting as a bridge between the album's brooding darkness and the somewhat lighter moments that linger just enough to keep the whole thing from collapsing in on itself. Holding an oddly-shaped magnetism, it's indicative of an album that always seem to be hiding something from you, and always enticing you to dig a little deeper at the same time.

Check it out below, the whole album is out today.